killer whales

SeaWorld is evolving. Responding to public pressure, SeaWorld is no longer doing big flashy killer whale shows at its San Diego facility. And it has just announced that it will no longer breed killer whales, often called orcas, in captivity. I’m evolving, too. About a decade ago I responded to a friendly invitation from a […]

When I saw SeaWorld’s announcement that they are going to stop breeding killer whales, I had mixed feelings – all of them positive. I’ll explain. Fresh out of college in 1977, I bought a ticket and found a seat in the bleachers to see my first killer whales. (It would be another 15 years before I […]

SeaWorld just announced that they would no longer let their orcas — also known as killer whales — breed. I asked several killer whale and animal behavior experts for their opinions. Barbara J. King, whose books include How Animals Grieve, wrote: Killer whales and other cetaceans suffer so much in captivity, both physically and emotionally, […]

By Kenneth Balcomb, guest essayist Note: In this guest essay, long-time killer whale researcher Ken Balcomb shows how obsolete but still salmon-killing dams are helping cause the decline of killer whales due to food shortage in the Northwest. The dams do feed us one thing: propaganda. As Ken wrote to me, “I was flabbergasted that […]

Adapted excerpt from Safina’s upcoming book, Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel, in stores July 14, 2015. (CNN) Four mother elephants are keeping their rotund babies in the shade of their bodies as they lead them across a sweet-smelling grassland under an already-hot early equatorial sun. Striding with deliberate purpose as though keeping an appointment, […]

People who are listening to the killer whale calls in my previous posting are asking whether we have any idea yet of the meaning. Answer: not as language, but we do know some things. What we don’t know: We don’t know if they have words or language. We think they have signature calls (names) and […]